


By Your Side

by FunkySpaceWizard13



Category: Youtube egos, jacksepticeye, markiplier - Fandom
Genre: Abusive Parents, Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Aubsive relationship, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, High School, High School AU, M/M, Markiplier - Freeform, jacksepticeye - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:21:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 16,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25188598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FunkySpaceWizard13/pseuds/FunkySpaceWizard13
Summary: Eric Derekson is an anxious teenager with a crush on Chase Brody. The catch? He’s dating Stacy, a girl that Chase’s two best friends - Darkiplier and Antisepticeye - don’t think is a very healthy person for him to be around. So, with Anti and Dark plotting the end of the ‘Chacy’ relationship, maybe Eric has a proper chance.
Relationships: Chase Brody/ Eric Derekson, Chase Brody/ Stacy Brody, Darkiplier/ Antisepticeye
Comments: 9
Kudos: 12





	1. Distracted Eyes and Bottle Rockets

**Author's Note:**

> PSA: I don’t ship septiplier. The egos are fictional, so they’re okay to ship. But please respect the wishes of Seán and Mark, and of course, the existence of their wonderful girlfriends.

Eric sat down, pulling out his books for science. He kept himself hunched over his desk, avoiding eye contact with everyone. Sat across the room from him was Chase Brody, talking to his girlfriend Stacy. 

Eric stole a glance at Chase, a faint blush upon his cheeks. He quickly returned his attention to the teacher,

“Today, we are starting our bottle rocket project.” Mr. Googleplier explained, “You will be in groups of two, picked by me.”

There was a chorus of groans from the class. Nobody liked it when their groups were picked for them.

“Welp, I was actually looking forward to this.” Anti said with an eye roll

Mr. Googleplier shot Anti a look before starting to pair them up. Anti got stuck with Eric. Typical. Of course he would get stuck with the anxious kid. Darkiplier got put with Stacy, and Chase t was paired with Bingiplier.

To be fair to Eric, Anti didn’t mind working with him that much. From what he could tell, Eric was pretty good at science. And Anti wasn’t that great, so that was good.

They were sent on their way and Eric moved his stuff to sit with Anti.

“Uh.. h-hi.. I’m Eric. Eric Derekson.”

Anti laughed, “I know.”

“Oh..” Eric stared down at his hands, an embarrassed blush prominent on his face, “I’m sorry...”

“Don’t be, it’s alright.” 

“I’m... uh... okay... so um... partners...” Eric mumbled. He really didn’t know what to say after that.

Anti just nodded, the awkward vibes making him feel awkward too. He noticed that Eric kept glancing back at something, like his eyes had some sort of tick. It took him a while that Chase was what Eric kept looking at. “..Are you staring at Chase?”

Dark, who had been taking a sip of water, heard that from the other side of the room and promptly spit out said water. That caused Anti to glare at him, it was a look that Dark probably received a lot from Anti. It basically meant ‘shut up, I can’t get gossip if you ruin the moment.’ Dark rolled his eyes, wiping the water from his chin.

Eric jumped at the noise and stared at Anti with wide eyes, “I- uh- no- uhm- uh- I was just- uh- uh-“

Anti turned back to Eric, “Hey, it’s fine. Your secret is safe with me,” he winked.

“I.. um.. r-really? You- you won’t tell anyone?” Eric asked anxiously, fiddling with the yellow handkerchief he always had. No one had ever seen him without it.

“Course not! Us gay bitches gotta stick together.” 

“I.. uh... yeah... thank you, Anti..” Eric said quietly. He looked just a bit calmer than he was before.

“No problem!” Anti realised they had gotten way off topic. “Do you have any idea what we need for this?”

“Oh.. um... w-well, we’ll need a bottle..”

Anti smiled a bit at that. He wasn’t wrong. “Okay, what else?”

“Um...baking soda, vinegar, a paper towel, pencils, and tape..”

Anti nodded, and the two decided who would get what.


	2. Nobody Likes School Lunch

Dark sauntered over to Anti after their science lesson, “Fancy meeting you here.”

“You know, it was funny the first time you said that, but now it’s just dumb.” Anti put his books in his locker, and walked with Dark to the cafeteria.

“Shut up, you know you love me.”

“I do, yeah.” He agreed, “I’m still mad at you for spitting your drink out.”

Dark frowned, “It was an accident!”

Anti only laughed at him.

“Spill. What happened?”

“Well, Eric is definitely crushing on Chase.”

Dark nodded, “Lunch. Tell him he can sit with us at lunch.” 

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? He’ll die of embarrassment. Besides, you know how Stacy gets.”

Dark shrugged, “He has us. If we can get Stacy to be civil with Eric, he can join the friend group.”

Anti nodded.

***

Dark sat down across the table from Chase, leaning forward, “Someone new is joining us for lunch today, his name’s Eric.”

Chase smiled, “Okay!”

Stacy mumbled a “Whatever,” and continued eating. Chase told her that she had to be nice, but she only ignored him. 

Dark made a sort of animalistic growl in the back of his throat at Stacy. 

Meanwhile, Anti was in the lunch queue, inviting Eric to sit with them. 

Eric looked at him, “I- I c-could? Really? I d-don’t want to be a bother..”

Anti shook his head, “You’re not a bother.”

“Oh.. thank you, Anti...” Eric smiled at him, getting his food.

Anti smiled back, getting his own, and walking back with Eric over to the table. Eric sat down next to Dark, diagonal to Chase. It dawned on him what he had been invited to do, and he looked quite dumbfounded. Anti sat on the other side of Dark, opposite Stacy. 

Eric looked like a fish out of water for a bit before stammering out a “Oh, uhm, hi, I’m- I’m Eric, Eric Derekson.”

“Hi! I’m Chase Brody.”

“I-I know..” Eric gave a nervous chuckle, “Uhm- so, uh... y-you’re Stacy, right?”

“Yeah. Stacy Smith.” She already looked annoyed at him.

“It’s n-nice to m-meet you, Stacy!” Eric smiled at her optimistically. He knew that look, that look of ‘get away from me, freak’ quite well. But he hoped that maybe Stacy would be nice.

“You too, I guess..”

“T-thank you..!” Eric started to eat his food, blushing slightly.

“Bitch...” Anti mumbled under his breath, it was pretty quiet, Dark was probably the only one that heard. He nodded in agreement, taking a bite from his sandwich. 

Dark leaned over, whispering to Anti, “So... how do you suppose we get that condescending bitch Stacy out of here?”

“No idea..”

“Hmm.. we’ll figure something out.”

“Hopefully.”

“... How uplifting.” Dark turned to the others, “What is the topic of conversation for today?”

Chase shrugged, “We’re just talking about clubs.”

“I see. What clubs are everyone interested in, then?” Dark asked. He already knew, but he was asking so that Eric could get a full scope of what was going on without having to ask again.

“Drama and the GSA.” Anti said, taking another bite of his food.

“I’m only in drama because a) he’s in it” Dark gave Anti a gentle shove in the shoulder, “And b) I’m a dramatic bitch. I’m also in the GSA, and I do football even though I hate it. And writing.”

“I still have no idea why you’re doing football if you don’t want to. But yeah, you’re a dramatic asshole.” Anti laughed 

“I’m in horticulture and football.” Chase said.

“Why the fuck is it even called that....” Dark whispered, sounding like a stoner. 

“It’s Latin, I think. It’s just gardening though.”

“Of course it is..”

“Uhm... I’m i-in the s-science club and t-the writing club..”

Stacy shrugged, “I’m not in anything yet.”

“Cool...”

There was an awkward silence, then Dark nodded and said “good talk..”

“And bad food.” Anti added, laughing.

“That’s why I make my own lunches,” Dark nudged Anti with his shoulder.

“Yeah. Sandwiches.”

“Excuse you, this is a fuckin’ toasted tomato sandwich that I made at four in the morning. It’s damn good.”

“It sounds it...” Anti stares down at the school’s macaroni cheese, looking depressed.

Dark made a noise between a groan and an exasperated sigh, “I can make you one, too..”

“Oh my god!” Anti gasped dramatically, “You would do that for me?”

Dark rolled his eyes, “no, of course I wouldn’t. I was proposing an idea to you just so I could take it all back.”

“A true crime. How dare you.”

“I love you too.”

“Aw!” Anti side-hugged Dark, grinning. 

In response, he rolled his eyes and jabbed Anti in the ribs with a “Yeah, yeah. Whatever.”

“You’re cute.”

“I know I am,” Dark smirked, resting his head on Anti’s shoulder.

“We get it, you two are together. We don’t all want to watch you be all cutesy.” Stacy interrupted.

“You’re just jealous that you can’t be cutesy even on your own~” Dark winked at her, grinning and showing off his unnaturally sharp canines. Stacy rolled her eyes, Chase just kept eating his food, not wanting to say anything in case he said the wrong thing and Stacy got mad. Because that.. was never fun. Dark kissed Anti’s cheek just to spite her and continued eating his sandwich. It made Anti smile. 

Soon, they all finished their food and Dark stood up from the table.  
“What classes do you all have next?”

“I got s-social s-studies...” Eric mumbled, looking down at his timetable, “i-if only they taught how t-to be social, instead...” he joked, giving a soft chuckle.

Anti laughed too, “Mood. They have no sympathy for us introverts.”

Eric shrugged, “t-they aren’t too bad... a-at least history is...” Eric remembered just how bloody history was, “uh....”

“History is... good...” Anti nodded.

“I’ve got social studies too!” Chase smiled. “Do you wanna walk up together?”

Eric looked at Chase and blushed, smiling a bit. “Y-you’d- you’d really w-walk with me?”

“Of course!”

It was obvious that Stacy wasn’t too happy about this whole situation, but Chase didn’t seem to notice. Eric did, though. He gave Stacy a very confused and nervous look before walking out with Chase.


	3. Cupid Fucked Up With This One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When the text is written like 
> 
> (Name): ____
> 
> That’s the characters texting, I didn’t know if it was obvious enough lmao
> 
> Slightly longer chapter this time, hope that’s okay!

After Chase and Eric had walked off, Anti looked at Stacy and then at Dark, giving him a “this is going to go well” sort of look. Then, he also walked out to his lesson.

“So, what’s your favourite lesson?” Chase asked while they walked.

“Uh... p-probably science.. I like learning about animals and s-stuff... w-what about you?” Eric looked up at Chase, genuinely interested.

“I’m not sure. I do like social studies, though.”

Eric nodded, “Y-yeah... history’s f-fun to learn about...” he frowned a bit, “E-except for all the d-death...”

“Yeah, there’s a lot of death.”

“Y-yeah..... I don’t like death too much... I-I mean, uh, it’s not- it’s not fun when, uh- death.. uh... happens...”

“No, it’s not.”

“Uh... yeah...” 

They had finally reached their classroom, and Eric looked around, confused as to where to sit. Chase sat down at a desk near the back, with an empty chair next to it for Eric. He looked at Chase, surprised, but then smiled at him and sat down. “T-thank you, Chase..”

“No problem!” He smiled brightly.

Eric had the sudden urge to lean on his shoulder, but refrained himself. He pulled out his social studies books, setting them down on the table in front of him with his pencil and eraser, watching as Chase did the same. Giving Chase one last smile, he turned his attention to the teacher.

***

Chase ran up to Stacy after school, hugging her from behind.  
“Hello!”

She groaned and sighed, “Whatever..”

“Ouch. Here I was thinking you liked my hugs.”

Stacy rolled her eyes, “Whatever. Why’d you walk with... that?” she pointed to Eric, who was just getting on a schoolbus.

“That’s kinda rude, Stace. He has a name.”

Stacy crossed her arms, “Does it look like I care?”

“Not really, but I do...”

“Whatever. Why’d you walk with him?”

“We were going to the same class?”

“So why’d you walk with him?”

“I walk with the others when he have the same class. I really don’t see what the problem is.”

Stacy rolled her eyes again, “You’re so fucking oblivious.”

“I know. Tell me! What’s wrong?”

“Ugh, you wouldn’t understand it anyway.”

Chase took Stacy’s hands in his, “If it’s bothering you, I want to help. Please?”

“It’s fucking fine, Chase. Just don’t fucking do it again.” Stacy snapped, ripping her hands away from him.

“At least tell me why!”

“Why should I? You wouldn’t understand anyway.”

“Well I can’t do anything if there’s no reason!”

“Yeah you fucking can. So just don’t do it.”

“Okay, let me rephrase that. I won’t do anything without a reason.”

“Why not?!”

“Because we’re in a RELATIONSHIP, Stace! We have to TALK to each other! You can’t just tell me to do something and expect me to do it in a heartbeat, because he’s my friend, and I want to know what you have against him!”

“I don’t like the way he fucking looks at you!!”

“What?”

“You’re so fucking oblivious. You can’t even fucking see it!”

“See what?!”

“THE WAY HE LOOKS AT YOU!!!”

“How does he look at me??!”

“LIKE YOU’RE HIS EVERYTHING!”

“Oh.” Chase smiled, “Is someone jealous?”

“I’m not fucking jealous!” Stacy screamed, stepping closer to him.

Chase took a step back, “Okay, okay! It was a joke!! Stace, c’mon. You’re MY everything.”

“Good.” Stacy snarled, turning on her heel and storming away. Chase thought it best to let her cool off, so he crossed the road to get home instead of going the same way as Stacy.

***

Dark was laying on the living room floor, staring down at his page, “this doesn’t make any sense...”

“Fuck.”

“You can’t understand it either?”

“Obviously not, I’m stupid.”

“.... I was kinda counting on you understanding it, actually.” Dark admitted.

“I guess we’re both doomed, then.”

“Or... we could ask for help.”

“My introverted ass doesn’t know how, you ask.”

“And you think I know how?”

“Oh, eat a cookie.” Anti said, with the same energy as someone angrily saying ‘fuck my ass’. 

“... Do you have any?”

“Yeah.” He shoved a cookie in Dark’s mouth.

Dark made a surprised muffled sound and his eyes went wide. He laughed a bit into the cookie, swallowing it, “Rude.”

Anti smiled, “You love me.”

“I know...” Dark sighed, rolling onto his back on the hardwood flooring.

“Fuck this.” Anti put his homework away, “Let’s watch a movie.”

“Isn’t it due tomorrow?” Dark asked, watching him from his spot on the floor.

“Who even cares at this point. It’s impossible!”

“It isn’t impossible. We simply don’t know how to do it.”

“Nothing makes any sense!”

“Hence why we should ask for help.”

“We’ve already established that we don’t know how to do that.”

“We can at least try...” 

“Fine, but you’re asking.”

“I know...” Dark walked over to his parent’s room, but came back after a bit, “Never mind...”

Anti sighed, “Now can we watch a movie?”

“We can, yes...” Dark collapsed onto his couch, groaning into a pillow. Anti sat on the couch with him and pat him on the back, putting on a movie. Dark turned his head to watch it, his grey-tinted cheek smushed against the pillow.

“You’re cute.”

“I am not.”

“Are too.”

“Am not.”

“Sureeee!”

“I’m not...”

Anti just rolled his eyes and kissed Dark’s cheek. “Whatever.”

Dark huffed, putting on a bad impression of his boyfriend, “Whatever..”

“Wow. I know my voice is high, but that’s just mean.”

“Understatement of the century...” Dark sat up on the couch, leaning on Anti and resting his head on his shoulder. 

“I love you too.”

Dark grumbled and groaned, wrapping an arm around Anti’s waist. He hugged him in return, which made Dark smile a little, and he lent into Anti’s touch. 

“You’re so cute.”

“Says you.”

“I do.” Anti booped his nose, “And it’s a fact.”

Dark glared at him, “Screw off.”

“But I don’t want to!”

“We all have to do things we don’t want to.”

“Well I don’t have to screw anybody.”

“That’s Not what I-“ Dark sighed, shaking his head, “Okay..”

“You told me to screw Off!”

“It’s a figure of speech!”

“Shhh. We’re meant to be watching the movie.”

“You’re the one who started the conversation in the first place.”

Anti kissed him, and he returned the gesture, smiling. “Your smile is so beautiful it physically hurts. Nobody gave you the right to be so goddamn beautiful.”

Dark chuckled and blushed, his smile widening, “That’s not true...”

“It’s my opinion, and that makes it true for me!”

Dark was just about to say something when his phone pinged. He fished it out of his pocket, “Oh, it’s a text from Brody..”

“Oop.”

“It says, and I quote, ‘idk what to do with my life help me I’m dying’,” Dark looked at Anti, “Ominous.”

“That’s very.. him.”

“I know.” Dark texted him back; 

Dark: care to elaborate?

Brody: Stacy doesn’t like Eric. Idk what to do

Dark: did she give a reason as to why?

Brody: she doesn’t like how he looks at me. Thinks he has a crush on me or some shit.

Anti laughed, “Oh no, he’s more oblivious than a rat walking into a mouse trap.”

“I... Strange analogy, but it’s accurate...”

Dark: I see. Eric is like a little duckling, he imprints on anything he sees. It may not be a crush, it may simply be him liking you as a friend. He does not have many friends, so he tends to stick to the ones he gets.

Brody: and I’m fine with that! But Stacy... isn’t

Dark: I can speak with her if you so wish.

Brody: she’ll probably have a go at me, but yeah, that’d be great 

Dark: lovely. Would you prefer me to do it over text, video chat, phone call, or face to face? 

Brody: Stacy screaming is never fun, so over text. 

Dark: as you wish. 

He went over to Stacy’s contact, 

Dark: Stacy, may we speak

Basic White Bitch: idk can we 

Dark: ... we can. I have heard that you do not like Eric. May I enquire as to why?

Basic White Bitch: youre smart work it out 

Dark: I’d rather not. It would be greatly appreciated if you tell me, because then we can work this out and make everyone happy.

Basic White Bitch: dont even pretend you havent seen the way he looks at chase 

Dark: for the sake of this conversation, how do YOU think he looks at Chase? 

Basic White Bitch: like hes his everything

Dark: I see. Eric does not have many friends, so he tends to imprints on the friends he can find. 

Basic White Bitch: i dont care

Dark: he does not have a crush on Chase, Stacy. And even if he did, he wouldn’t do anything about it. He’s too nervous.

Basic White Bitch: well what if i looked at anti like that

“Bitch I’m gay as fuck, it wouldn’t make a difference!” 

Dark rolled his eyes at Anti, going back to texting Stacy. 

Dark: I would not be concerned, because I know that Anti is faithful. I also know that Chase is faithful. You have nothing to worry about.

Basic White Bitch: you dont know that for sure

Dark: I do, actually. I have known Chase for a long time, and Anti has known him even longer. He would never cheat on anyone. 

Basic White Bitch: i never said i was talking about chase 

“... I’m done.”

“You can leave, if you so wish.”

“Nah, I like being with you.”

“Fine..”

Dark: Anti would never cheat on me, because he knows that if he did, I would make his life a living hell. 

Basic White Bitch: and id do the same to chase 

Dark: so you have nothing to fear. Neither of us are going to be cheated on. So just.. be more kind to Eric. He is no threat to your relationship, I promise you that.

(Basic White Bitch read at read at 4:48 pm) 

“Thank you,” Dark said, smiling after Anti kissed his cheek.

“You don’t have to thank me for kisses, idiot.”

Dark put his phone away, “Well I’m going to anyway, because I really don’t deserve you.” He sighed.

“You really don’t.”

Dark gave him a fake look of offence, “Well you aren’t supposed to agree with me, jeez.”

“Well I do. You deserve more.”

Dark shook his head, “No, I don’t...”

“Shut up, I’m not having any of that. You’re amazing, and deserve someone just as amazing as you are.”

“Well I don’t, and even if I did, you’re not as amazing as I am. You’re so much more amazing than I could ever be.”

“You seriously underestimate your own amazingness.”

“As do you.”

“Shh, eat a cookie.” 

Dark sighed, grabbing a cookie and eating it, “Fine..”

Anti laughed and snuggled up to Dark, who kissed his forehead. Smiling, Anti wrapped his arms around Dark’s waist.

“I love you...” Dark whispered, nuzzling his face into Anti’s hair, which made Anti giggle.

“I love you too, Darki!”

Dark chuckled, holding him closer and watching the movie. At some point, Anti fell asleep in Dark’s arms. It wasn’t a surprise, he took naps regularly, but never actually slept at night. Honestly, it was adorable, so Dark let him sleep for a while before eventually prodding him awake. But Anti just swatted his hand away lazily.

Dark huffed at him, “You gotta get up...”

“Mmmrrrrrpphh...” After a bit, Anti yawned, blinking his eyes open. “‘M up...”

“Good, because it’s dinner right about now, and my parents would appreciate it if you left.”

Anti stretched, kissing Dark goodbye, “Kay, I’ll see you tomorrow.”


	4. Chase Gets Slapped (He Also Gets A Popsicle)

The next day, Eric sat down at the table for lunch, greeting the others cheerfully. Chase smiled, waving at him. Clearly, Stacy was annoyed at that, so she leant on his shoulder dramatically, like she was trying to prove a point. Eric gave her a very confused look, he even tilted his head and raised his eyebrow slightly. Dark sighed and rolled his eyes, handing Anti a sandwich.

“Awww! Thank you!!”

“I already told you I’d give you one,” Dark poked him in the side.

“Yeah, but you actually did! Thank you!” 

Chase was laughing at them in the background, not really paying Stacy much attention, which probably pissed her off. Eric was just smiling softly, not wanting to interrupt them.

“It’s no problem,” Dark leaned over and gave Anti a soft kiss on the cheek. Anti smiled, taking a bite out of the sandwich, and nodding in approval. That made Dark chuckle, “I’m glad you like it, darling.”

“It’s lovely.”

“As are you.”

“Awww!” 

Stacy was still just begging for attention in the background, not that anyone was giving her any. Dark gave her a sly look, wrapping his arms around Anti’s shoulders and practically hanging off of him. Anti smiled, leaning into him. And to be honest, Chase just looked uncomfortable with the entire situation. Dark sighed contentedly, eating his sandwich. Eric stared between the four of them, not sure what to do other than eat his shitty cafeteria food. Anti ate his own sandwich, and at this point Stacy was poking Chase to get him to give her attention. 

Dark laughed, “Chase, I think you have a little leach attached to you, there. Do you need me to get some salt?”

Stacy glared at Dark, and then at Chase, who shrugged in response.

“Don’t worry, I’m just teasing you,” Dark smirked at her, giving her a soft poke in the shoulder.

She shoved his hand away, leaning on Chase, who smiled awkwardly. 

“Ooh, ow, so cold,” Dark chuckled, “I’m sorry, Ice Witch, I didn’t mean to burn you.”

“Can we.. not argue...?”

Dark sighed, “Apologies, Chase.”

He shrugged, “It’s fine.” 

Stacy rolled her eyes, getting up and walking away. “Whatever.”

Dark shook his head, staring after her, “She’s a cup o’ sugar, wouldn’t you say?”

“I have no idea what’s gotten into her, but it’s really annoying.” 

Dark nodded, “I can see why.”

“M-maybe... I could, um, t-talk to her..? S-see what’s wrong...?” Eric asked, fiddling with his fork.

Chase glanced at Dark, giving him a look that said ‘fuck what do I do?’

Dark shrugged, giving him a look of ‘let’s see how this goes.’

“Sure, okay...”

Eric gave him a nervous smile, “So... is n-now good?”

“Yeah, now is good...” Chase confirmed. 

“Okay...” Eric got up, walking over to Stacy.

Stacy was sat at another table with a girl called Celine, because her and Damien don’t make up Dark in this fic. Do you know why? Because I don’t care about canon, that’s why.

“Um... hey, Stacy...? Could I- could I talk to you for a bit...?” Eric asked timidly.

“I dunno, can you?”

“Uh... I d-dunno...?”

“You should probably figure that out, then.”

“Oh, uh.. yeah, probably... a-anyways, um...”

Eric shivered under the look she gave him, whimpering a bit, “Uh, so, uh, is- is something wrong..? Did- did I do something wrong?”

“Not yet.”

“O-oh... okay... because you’ve been, Uh, acting, uh, weird, lately..? Uh.. no offence... I was just wondering what was up...?”

“You can’t say I’ve been acting weird lately when you don’t know how I acted before.”

“I.. um... t-the others, uh, thought you were... acting strange... and I wanted to help..”

She rolled her eyes, “Of course you did.”

“I, um, yeah, so, uh... did I- was it me? Did I do something wrong? Can- can I help?” Eric asked, his voice rising in pitch with his anxiety.

“No. Leave me alone. And leave Chase alone too!”

Eric flinched back, “I.. uh.. did- why..? What did I do- what did I do?”

“You obviously like him!”

“I- I- I-“ Eric gulped, brushing his hair out of his face, “I- um- I don’t- I- I-I’m sorry- I-“

She rolled her eyes at him, “Talk properly! Come on, spit it out!”

Eric could feel the tears welling up in his eyes as he started to cry, pausing before running out of the cafeteria. Pretty much everyone in the cafeteria was watching at this point. Chase ran over to Stacy to ask about what happened and why Eric just ran off crying, but before he could get a word out, Stacy slapped him. There was a collective gasp from the students around them, and Dark stood up, storming over to her and grabbing her by the wrist. He slammed her up against the wall, “Do not fucking touch him, you selfish bastard.”

“No, Dark, it’s fine...”

Dark growled at him, “it is not fine!!”

“It- she didn’t mean it, Dark, it’s fine.. I’m fine.”

Dark sighed, letting her go, “.. fine.”

Anti had ran off to go look for Eric, who was crying quietly in a bathroom. He hadn’t even bothered to go in one of the stalls, he was just sat under a sink, sobbing.

He heard the cries and entered the bathroom, walking over to Eric. “You wanna talk about it?”

Eric curled in on himself, holding his knees tight to his chest. He shook his head, wiping at his cheeks.

“That’s okay.. hug?” 

“Y-yes please...” 

Anti hugged him softly, and Eric sobbed into his shirt. 

After a while, Eric calmed down a little. “I’m s-sorry...” he said, wiping tears from his eyes. 

“Don’t be sorry, it’s fine. And it’s not your fault, Stacy’s a bitch who doesn’t deserve the love Chase gives her.” 

“S-she’s not too bad... s-she just gets angry... and.. I’m a-annoying anyway, s-so... it’s n-not her fault... it’s p-probably me, t-to be honest...”

“She’s like that with everyone. Including Chase. It’s got absolutely nothing to do with you.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”  
—

Stacy walked out of the cafeteria, and Chase tried to follow after her, but Dark held him back. “No, she needs time to cool down. Just.. leave her be.”

Chased sighed in defeat, “Okay...”

“Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Yeah, I guess...”

“Hey. Look at me.”

Chase did as told, his cheek was red from how hard Stacy had slapped him, but he looked more emotionally hurt than physically. Dark sighed, grabbing Chase by the chin and turning his head so he could get a good look at the hand mark. It made Chase flinch, but if Dark noticed, he didn’t say anything. 

“We’re going to the nurse’s office.”

“It’s fine, Dark, really.”

“No. It’s not.” Dark took him by the arm, dragging him off to the nurse’s office. 

“I can walk.”

“I know you can..” Dark sat him down in the waiting room, and went to check him in, explaining what had happened. The nurse came back with him, smiling at Chase sweetly and leading him into his office.

Chase sat down, honestly he thought this was all pointless - he was fine! But Dark wouldn’t leave him alone otherwise, so he might as well just get it over with.

“So, you got slapped, huh...?” The nurse, Mr. Corry, looked down at Chase, taking a seat down in front of him. Mr. Corry was an absentminded man, sometimes zoning out and jolting back to reality at odd moments. He almost floated through life, and I’m pretty sure everyone knew the man was gay. He just had this sort of floaty gay vibe.

“Yeah...”

Mr. Corry got up from his chair, wandering over to a freezer and getting Chase an ice pack, “here, darling... put this on your cheek...” Mr. Corry had a strange way of talking about him. It was breathy and airy, almost mystical. And he really did look like he was floating when he walked.

“Thanks...”

Mr. Corry smiled, “Would you like a popsicle?”

“Sure, I guess.”

Mr. Corry nodded again, pulling out a popsicle from behind his back. Almost like he had just summoned it. He gave it to Chase, “There you are...”

“Thanks.”

“It is no problem, dearie. That is what I am here for..” Mr. Corry stared at him for a while, then said quietly “You know Eric Derekson, don’t you?”

“Um.. y-yeah..? Is he okay?”

“I believe he is alright now, yes.... such a kind boy.... I always hope to make him better... he does try his best... he comes to my office sometimes, when he is feeling unwell, you see.. mentally and physically....” Mr. Corry sort of drifted off at that, staring at Chase fondly. His eyes were always out of focus, but that didn’t seem to stop him from noticing the tiniest of details.

Chase wasn’t sure what to say. “Yeah... he’s nice....” 

There was a sort of comfortable silence in the room, or.. it was comfortable for Mr. Corry, rather. This man could have been in a hostage situation, and he would have invited his captors out for tea on Wednesday’s. He always seemed comfortable in whatever situation he was in, no matter what. Chase just sat there with his popsicle, he wasn’t sure if he could go yet.


	5. I’m (half) gay

Eric got off the bus after school, thanking the bus driver before going into his family’s small house, really it was more of a bungalow. His fifteen brothers weren’t home yet, so he had some time to himself. He greeted his parents before walking up to his room, setting his backpack down on the bed.

After a while, Eric’s mum, Emily, walked into his room. “Hey, how was your day?”

Eric looked up from where he had laid, stomach down, on the bed. He had a pencil in one hand and a notebook in the other, “O-oh... it was okay.... I c-cried in the bathroom again...” Eric mumbled, staring down at his paper.

“What happened?”

“T-there was this girl... I t-tried to talk to her, but, um.. s-she yelled at me.... and.. uh...”

“Why did she yell at you??”

“I.. um... k-kept on stuttering, and, uh, stumbling o-over my words... I g-guess I just annoyed her t-too much...”

“Aw, Eric...” she pulled him into a warm hug.

Eric hugged her back, leaning into the warm embrace gratefully, “I w-was just trying to help...”

“Not everyone wants help, Eric. You tried, that’s what matters.”

Eric nodded, “I k-know... t-thanks, mum..”

“Its my job, Eric. No need to thank me. What happened after?”

“I, um... I don’t know... uh... Anti found me in the bathroom... c-calmed me down, uh... h-he’s nice...”

She nodded, “I like him already.”

Eric gave her a smile, “Y-yeah... I like him too... we’re d-doing a science project together...”

“Sounds fun.”

“It is y-yeah..”

Later that night, the Dereksons and Mr. Corry were all seated at the dinner table. Mr. Corry was very good friends with Eric’s mum. Painting together and sipping tea were their favourite pastimes. Corry’s office was filled with the paintings that they did together, as well as multiple plants, and the Derekson household was the same, but with less plants because teenage boys can be rowdy and knock stuff over. Like plants.

Eric raised his hand, “Um...” Everyone else at the table looked at Eric, and he felt like he might faint. Uh... c-can- I have- I h-have something t-to... tell everyone..?”

“Of course. What is it, sweetie?”

“I.. um... I’m, uh.. bisexual...” Eric whispered to his hands.

Emily smiled reassuringly, “That’s perfectly fine, darling.”

“T-thanks, mum..”

“ ‘Bisexual’?” Eric’s father, Derek, raised an eyebrow at him, “What in hell does that mean?”

“I, uh, uh... I l-like both, uh... g-guys.. and girls..”

Eric’s brothers had all gone silent. Then Larek spoke up, shrugging, “I don’t care.”

The brothers all nodded, and Eric beamed at them, “T-thank you, because it’s really not that big of a-“

“It’s your ass, not mine,” Larek cut in.

“Larek! We’re eating.”

Larek sighed, “Sorry, mum...”

“It’s fine.”

“I think it’s wonderful.” Mr. Corry chimed in softly.

Emily nodded, giving Eric another smile. Derek just... kinda looked done with this situation. 

Eric smiled back at her, calming down a bit, “thank you, M-Mr. Corry...”

“Ah... I forgot to ask... how was your day? I know how hard it can be, to have someone yell at you..” Mr. Corry said quietly.

Eric looked at his mum, a bit confused. Mr. Corry always seemed to know things even when he shouldn’t, and Eric certainly hadn’t told him about Stacy yelling at him. His mum shrugged, she didn’t know he knew either. 

Eric gave a shaky sigh, “Um.. h-how do you- do you know about.. m-my, uh....” he drifted off.

Mr. Corry smiled softly, “I know everything that goes on around here, dearie...”

“Oh... um... o-okay...” Eric mumbled, wondering if he knew about his crush on Chase. Eventually everyone had finished eating, and it was time for bed.

“Goodnight, everybody...” Mr. Corry said, drifting out the front door.

“Goodbye! Have a lovely rest of your day!”

“Ooh, it is in the night, now...” Corry smiled a bit, “But I shall keep that in mind... I will see you tomorrow, Emily.”

***

The next day, Mr. Corry was to be found in his office. He had a bunch of different painting easels and painting materials, and a couple of tea cups had been brewing, waiting for his guest to arrive.

Emily walked in, smiling warmly like always. “Good morning!”

“Oh, good morning, Emily...” he gave her one of his soft, pleasant smiles, putting the exact right amounts of sugar and milk in her tea and handing it to her.

“Thank you,” she said, taking a sip.

Corry nodded to her, gliding over to a painting easel with his own cup of tea and looking at a couple of brushes. Emily did the same. Corry picked up a brush, dipping it in some paint. He stared at his easel for a long while, his head slightly tilted to the left, before he started making his first soft yet deliberate strokes of paint on his canvas. On the other hand, Emily already knew what she wanted to paint. She did a lot of sunsets, and they were one of her favourite things. Eric likes them too, and he has a few in his room (even though most of them were in her room or Corry’s office). They usually painted in silence, although sometimes Corry or Emily would strike up some quiet conversation.

“Eric has what you’d call a ‘crush’, you know..” Corry hummed, putting some details into the giant raven he was painting.

“Really? On who?”

“Do you know Chase Brody?”

“I do not, no. Is he nice?” That was Emily’s biggest (and pretty much only) concern when it came to the people where children were dating. As long as they were nice, she was happy. Basically, I’m trying to tell you that Emily Derekson is an absolute queen. 

“He is very nice, yes... he went to go see why Eric had run off crying after speaking with her.. he got hit... Darkiplier came in with him....” Corry smiled, “If only poor Darki’s parents were the same...”

“What do you mean?”

“Ooh.. they don’t get along, sadly...” Mr. Corry sort of zoned out after that, staring blankly ahead with a small smile on his face.

Emily nodded, continuing to paint. She was glad that Chase was nice, and that her son had friends like Eric and Dark, but it made her sad to know that Dark’s parents weren’t the greatest people. If she could, she’d adopt him.

After a long while, Corry continued to paint, adding a few more details into the background that he had painted. Emily took another sip of her tea, also adding more details to the painting.

***

Emily came back to the Derekson house a few hours later, a warm smile on her face like always as she greeted Derek and her children. 

Derek sighed, waving to her a bit, “Emily, can we talk?”

She nodded at him, smiling still. Derek sighed in relief, walking with her into their room and sitting down on the bed. Emily was a little worried, because Derek seemed stressed. 

Derek studied her for a bit, “I’m worried about Eric, Em...”

“Why?”

“I mean... he’s ‘bisexual.’ You know how much he annoys the other kids at school, what if they hate him even more because of it?” Derek crossed his arms.

She shrugged, “Then they’re not worth his time and we tell him that.”

Derek pursed his lips, “I... suppose that’s fair. But you know how he gets, he cares too much about what other people think of him.”

“I think his generation care a lot less about this kind of stuff than ours did. It’s just more acceptable now. Obviously he’s gonna get shitheads, but that’s inevitable.”

Mm.. I guess so... and you’re sure he can handle em?”

“I am. And it’s not like we can change him anyway. He is who he is.”

Derek sighed, “Mhm.. good talk,” he stood up, leaving the room.


	6. Dark’s parents suck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one is a little shorter

Dark opened the door to the house, putting his keys away, “Mom, Dad... I’m home..”

His parents didn’t hear him. They were in the other room, shouting at each other. Dark sighed, closing the door behind him. He tried his best to tune out the yelling, turning the volume up on his music as he walked up to his room, allowing himself to fall to the floor. He took out his homework for the night, staring at it. It wasn’t easy to focus, and it honestly seemed as though they started shouting louder when he turned up the music. They were both obviously drunk, too. Dark groaned to himself, running his fingers through his hair. He never really cried, not anymore at least. At one point, they were a happy family. Then... something changed. He didn’t know what. It could have been a multitude of things... they’d been living like this since he was twelve. And it. Sucked. Ass. He felt like he wanted to take all of the alcohol in the world and throw it into a pit and set it all on fire, never to be seen again. They were breaking things, too. But that wasn’t even as loud as the shouting. Dark put his head in his hands, taking out his phone. He sighed, texting Anti,

My emo idiot: Anti? 

My Glitch Bitch: Dark

My emo idiot: they’re at it again 

My Glitch Bitch: I’ll be there in half an hour 

My emo idiot: thanks, Anti 

My Glitch Bitch: see you in a bit 

(My emo idiot read at 4:20 pm) 

When Anti got there, he texted Dark instead of knocking because he doubted he would hear if he knocked. Dark was by the door, and he opened it.

“Hey..”

Instead of saying something, Anti just hugged Dark. He needed it. 

“Thank you,” Dark hugged back tightly.

“It’s not problem, Dark.” 

Dark hesitated and then led Anti out the door, closing and locking it behind him. Anti took Dark’s hand and intertwined their fingers, kissing him on the cheek softly.

“Again, thank you.” Dark repeated, giving Anti a grim smile.

“Again, it’s no problem.”

Dark nodded as they started to walk away from the house. Neither of them actually asked about where they were going, but they both just knew it was to Anti’s. The silence was kind of awkward for him, so he stopped walking to boop Dark on the nose. 

“Rude.”

“You love me.”

“You know I do.”


	7. We Stan A Queen (it’s Celine)

Stacy walked through the hall over to Celine’s locker. Everyone was glaring at her - they hadn’t forgotten what happened yesterday lunch, nor would they. And it was going to make Stacy’s life a living hell.

Celine raised an eyebrow at her.. it was one of those looks that would make anyone quiver in fear. She then continued to search through her locker.

“Hello.”

“What do you want.” Celine murmured, not even looking up at Stacy.

“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.”

“Someone woke up on the wrong side of my temper.” Celine snapped back.

“I literally just got here!”

“I know.” Celine pulled out her stuff for the day, putting it into the little bag she always had.

“What is with you today??”

“No. What is with you?” Celine turned to her, fire in her eyes.

“Nothing? You’re the one acting weird.”

“Are you kidding me?! You yelled at Eric Derekson, then hit your fucking boyfriend?!” Celine growled, taking an angered step toward Stacy. 

Most people were staring now. Celine had been Stacy’s best friend for the best part of 2 years, so this was a pretty big moment. 

“It’s not like they didn’t deserve it.”

Celine grabbed Stacy by the collar of her shirt, “Liar, liar, slutty clothes on fire, Stacy. Eric has done nothing but try to help, as has Chase.”

“Oh my god, you’re literally as blind as everyone else!”

“Oh yeah? Open my eyes, then! What do you see, O Great Enlightened One?”

“Eric very obviously has a crush on Chase! And the fucking asshole is loving the attention.”

“Why do you think he’s loving the attention? Give me evidence.”

“If he didn’t, he would’ve stopped hanging out with him by now.”

Oh, come on!” Celine scoffed, “Chase is a people person! He obviously likes having friends. Just let him do what makes him happy.”

“He’s a fucking cheater, Celine.”

“He’s not cheating on shit.”

“Whatever.”

“If you think he’s cheating, then why not just break up with him??”

“Ugh!” She just walked away, clearly not having any excuse for that. 

Celine rolled her eyes, walking over to Chase. “Hey. Brody.”

Chase gave her a wave, smiling. “Hi!”

“So Stacy thinks you’re cheating on her because you’re friends with Eric, and she refuses to break up with you because she’s an idiot and won’t listen to reason.” Celine stated, crossing her arms over her chest. Needless to say, Chase stopped smiling.

“Oh...”

“Mhm. Your girlfriend is dumb as fuck. You don’t deserve to be hit, you did nothing wrong. She thinks Eric has a crush on you... might be true. Probably not, though... either way, prepare yourself for her bullshit, mmkay?”

“She’s not that bad...”

Celine stared at him for a bit, then just sighed, “just be careful.”

“Okay...”

Celine pat him on the shoulder gently before walking off to her class, and Chase did the same.

Eric greeted him cheerfully, but then saw he looked a little bit off, “h-hey, are you okay?”

“Yeah I’m okay.. just Stacy. You?”

“I’m o-okay... what’s up w-with Stacy?”

“She thinks I’m cheating on her.”

“O-oh... why?”

“No clue.”

“Oh.” Eric paused, “d-d’you need a hug?”

Chase nodded, and Eric pulled him into a gentle hug, one that would make anyone’s heart even just a little bit lighter. Chase’s hugs were warm, and they were protective while still being comforting. Eric practically melted into the hug, which just made his hugs ten times better. They stayed like that for a bit, but Mr Googleplier walked in so they had to sit down with who they were working with for their bottle rockets. 

“I have to admit, I literally have no clue how to science.” Anti laughed.

Eric laughed softly, shifting in his chair. “Y-yeah... don’t worry, I’ll s-show you how..”

“Thank you.”

“It’s no p-problem.” Eric smiled at Anti.

They got to work on their science stuff, Eric being, again... genuinely not too bad. You just had to give him the chance to show how smart he actually is. And Anti was, surprisingly, very patient. Most people just thought he was insane, and they weren’t wrong; he could definitely be chaotic. But if you actually knew him well enough, he was quite an empathetic person. And Eric was so grateful for that. Most people weren’t patient with him, so it was an absolute blessing upon his day.


	8. T is for Trauma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by my friend, one of my favourite people in the world and my sib from another crib. He doesn’t have an A03 account, but his wattpad is @LokiOfEarth

Eric followed his mum out the door. They were off to go see Mr. Corry and his husband, Mr. Poppins. They were taking the bus, because Derek wasn’t coming and Emily couldn’t drive. Eric smiled a bit as he got on, the bus, sitting down next to Emily. He got the window seat, and he and his mom would always look out the window together and look at all the wildlife and stuff. They liked to speculate about what the people were doing as they passed them, where they were going, etc. Usually they just imagined them to be doing mundane everyday stuff, like shopping. But sometimes they’d make it really strange. Like going out to a swamp to go swim with crocodiles... they both had pretty vivid imaginations, so it was fun. 

And the road to Mr. Corry’s place was pretty long, too. They had never really met Mr. Poppins before, but he had gotten some free time off from... whatever his work was, and was able to meet them. Poppins and Corry lived in the middle of the forest, and you had to either hike, bike, or get a scooter or something to get there. It was about an hour’s walk from the start of the forest to Mr. Corry’s place, and then another two hours from the school he worked at. No one really knew where he lived except for Emily, and Eric. And even they didn’t know how he was able to get to school on time, because he would have had to get up around 4am to be able to get ready and get to school by the time it started at 9, and no one ever got up that early because that was absolutely absurd. They liked to joke that he was a magical god being, and that there was no other explanation. And maybe they were right. No one ever really knew with Corry... he coulda been the creator of the universe itself and he’d just be like ‘mmm yes, this tea is nice.’ If you asked him. I’m not even sure he himself knew what he was- god? Human? TIE Fighter? Plot device? Nobody knew.

Eric smiled out the window at the streets passing by. The streets gave way to countryside, then to a sort of hilly landscape with the forest down below them. They were driving on one of those roads on an outcropping of rock dug into a mountain. There was a sudden lurch, and Eric felt his heart drop from his chest and into his stomach as the bus swerved off the mountain, into the forest below. It felt like they were falling for ages, until they finally crashed into the ground, and everything went black.

Eric came around eventually. He looked around, coughing from the smoke in the air, “M-mum...?”

She was coughing too, “Eric, I know this is hard, but I need you to stay awake, okay?”

Eric looked at her through his glasses, which had cracked. There was blood dripping down his face from a gash in his forehead, “Y-yeah, yeah... of c-course, w-what- what happened...?”

“The bus crashed..”

“It- w-what!?” Eric looked around frantically, his ears still ringing a bit from the crash. It was then that he saw the blood and the bodies all around them, and the whimpering and groaning of dying people. He almost fainted right then and there from it. Eric whimpered, tears streaming down his dust and blood-stained face. He tried to get up, to help the other passengers, but he couldn’t. He looked down and saw that his legs were trapped under debris. He tried to move them, but alas, it was to no avail.

“It’s gonna be okay, Eric.”

Eric looked at her. It was then that he realized that most of her body had been crushed under the same debris that had crushed his legs. “M-mum, how can it- h-how can it be okay!?”

"Eric, hun, please, listen to me. It's gonna be okay. I promise." She coughed more.

Eric sobbed a bit, "I.. I d-don't want to lose you... p-please..."

"I know, I know. But it'll be okay..." She reached out to rub his hand softly, "one day, Eric, you're going to do something amazing.. and when you do, you're going to do it so well. And we'll all be proud of you."

Eric cried at that, "I.. t-thank you, mum...” there was no response. He held her hand a bit, shaking it, "m-mum?? Mum!!!” He screamed, tears streaming down his face. He cried for a long time before blacking out again. He sort of came to a couple hours later, and heard sirens getting closer. All he could do was whimper softly and try to get out from under the debris before passing out again.


	9. Soulmates

The next thing he knew, he was opening his eyes to bright florescent lights above him. He whimpered and groaned, shutting his eyes fight against the bright lights.

“Good Morning, Mr. Derekson,” someone greeted pleasantly. Eric slowly opened his eyes again. Everything was blurry, since he didn’t have his glasses on.

“Wh... w-where am I...?” Eric asked quietly.

“You’re in a Hospital, Eric. Don’t worry, you’re safe now. Would you like me to bring your father in?”

Eric nodded, and the person, who he assumed was a doctor or nurse walked out the room, coming back a few minutes later with Derek. Derek looked horrified, and Eric had probably never seen him showing actual emotion before, to be honest. Eric teared up at that. Seeing his father looking so horrified made him scared, or more scared than he already was.

“H-hi, Dad..” he said meekly. 

“Hi?????? You almost died and all you have to say is HI??”

Eric flinched, cowering under the covers of the hospital bed. Tears started to roll down his cheeks and he whimpered, “I- I- I- I d-don’t- I’m s-sorry-“

Derek sighed, honestly having nothing to say in this situation Eric pulled the covers up to cover the lower half of his face, crying softly. He wanted his dad to say something, anything, in this situation, but he knew it probably wouldn’t happen. And he was right. It didn’t. Like at all. Maybe Eric’s anxiety was just making it feel like forever, or maybe it actually was. Eric eventually glanced down, and saw something that made his heart drop. His legs just... ended. Right below the knee. He moved them a bit, watching as the sheets moved over where his feet should have been. He let out a loud sob, covering his mouth with his hands.

Derek was confused, “What’s wrong?”

Eric looked at him, then just pointed to where his legs should have been, unable to say anything through his shocked tears. Derek’s face just went ‘O.’ Eric bursted into more tears, not able to contain himself. The doctor patted his back gently, offering him some tissues and such. 

The doctor then led Derek away to another corner of the room for a bit more privacy, “Sir.. I am sad to say it, but your.. your wife didn’t make it.”

“She- what? No...”

“Eric was the sole survivor of the crash, sir... I’m sorry.” The Doctor shook their head solemnly.

“That’s not possible..”

The doctor sighed, “I’m sorry, sir... I’ll give you time to process.” They walked back over to Eric to discuss something with him.

***

Chase sat down at the usual table with Dark, Stacy and Anti after social studies. “Have any of you seen Eric today? He wasn’t in class.”

Dark exchanged a worried look with Anti and then shook his head, “No... perhaps he’s just sick?”

“Why do you even care?”

“Because he’s our friend, Stacy...” Dark said quietly, “why don’t you care?”

“Because I’m not a clingy bitch.”

“That makes one of us. I’m very clingy.” Anti said, hugging Dark.

Dark chuckled a bit, “yes, you are..” he looked at Stacy with a small frown on his face, “it’s not being clingy if you’re just worried about a friend. I just wish I knew if he was alright or not...”

“Oh! Maybe Mr. Corry knows!” 

Dark thought about that and nodded, “Yes, he does tend to know everything, doesn’t he? He will be on his lunch break..., perhaps we should go ask him now?”

Chase nodded, “Yeah, okay.”

Stacy rolled her eyes, which earned her an eye roll in return from Anti. Dark laughed softly at his boyfriend, standing up with him and Chase and walking over to Mr. Corry’s office. Mr. Corry was sat at his desk, eating a salad from a plate. There was a paper bag next to him, that had ‘for my dear Mr. Corry, love your Poppins~💘’ written on it in red ink. The writing was very elegant. Chase knocked on the door. 

“Come in!” Mr. Corry said from his desk. He already knew who would be at the door.

Chase opened the door, “We were just wondering if you knew where Eric is? He isn’t in school today.”

“Oh.. yes, he’s in the hospital...” Mr. Corry nodded, shifting his salad around on his plate with his fork.

He nodded again quietly. He seemed quieter than usual, which was saying something, because he was always quiet. “Yes... he was in a bus crash. I do believe he is quite lonely, and would like some company in the hospital.”

“Okay, I’ll go see him after school.”

“I will too.” Dark chimed in.

Mr. Corry smiled at them, “Lovely... I’m sure he will appreciate it... would you like to stay with me for the rest of your lunch?”

The three of them nodded, sitting down. “I’ll go too,” Anti said, “My mum can drive us there and drop you two off after.” 

Dark nodded, “Great. Your mum is great. She’s actually nice, it’s great.”

“She’s great. You can stay round ours for longer if you want, Dark. She won’t mind.”

Anti’s mum was one of the best people on the planet. She was chill with pretty much anything, accepting as all hell, and amazing at cooking. Anti’s dad wasn’t really in the picture, but his mum made up for it because she was just so amazing. And she was always happy to have Dark round, too. She knew about his home situation, so she always made sure he knew that he could come over whenever he needed to. 

“Please yes, her cooking is fucking amazing,” Dark sighed.

“I agree.” Chase laughed.

“Especially when it involves potatoes, but that’s probably because we’re Irish.”

“Of course it’s because you’re Irish,” Dark laughed too, poking Anti in the side.

“I am a potato. And a fucking beautiful one.”

“My beautiful little potato,” Dark leaned down and kissed him on the cheek.

Anti giggled, hugging Dark.

“You two are the definition of soulmates, honestly.” Chase laughed. He had known Anti since he was 5, and they met Dark when they were 11. Dark and Anti had only been dating for two years, but they were absolutely perfect for each other. Anti had always been an introvert, and Dark was one of the only people Chase had ever seen him completely comfortable with.

“I agree full heartedly...” Mr. Corry said from his desk.

Dark smiled, wrapping an arm around Anti’s shoulders, “Why thank you.”

“We know, we’re really special.”

“Really very special... well, we should probably get back.. class is starting soon.”

“Yeah. Bye, Mr Corry.” Chase said, smiling.


	10. Hospital Visits And Weirdly Named Cats

By the time that school had ended, Mr. Corry was still in his office. He heard a knock at the door and closed his book quietly, “come in!”

Stacy walked in, muttering a, “This is so stupid.” under her breath.

Mr. Corry pretended he didn’t hear that, standing up and going to a round table that had a small chair and a couch. He sat down on the couch, motioning for her to take the seat. She did, albeit reluctantly and with a face of pure sourness.

He smiled at her, “Your parents have notified me saying that your grades could.. use so,e work.... I am here to aid you..”

“I know why I’m here. I’m not an idiot, unlike some people.”

“Oh, I don’t think anyone’s an ‘idiot’...” he smiled pleasantly, “How do you think I can help you get your grades up..?”

“I don’t know, do I? That’s your job.”

Mr. Corry tilted his head to the side. He hummed a soft tune to himself, and then sighed softly, “Stacy.... I am here to help. If you want to get your grades up, then you must work with me..”

“I really don’t care, though.”

He smiled, “The easiest path is that of least resistance. So please.. work with me.. I don’t bite, I promise..”

“Of course not, that would make you a pedophile. Though, you’re already gay, so I guess it isn’t that unbelievable.”

Mr. Corry hummed, “Most people who are gay are not pedophiles... priests, on the other hand...” he smiled, “I am not a priest, Stacy. I’m a certified physician and nurse.”

“Excuse you! My dad is a priest.”

“I know... it explains quite a lot,” Mr. Corry leaned forward, “But it is not my place to judge... so!” He leaned back, “Let us continue with the session, shall we? You are failing...” he paused and then nodded, “everything except maths. So.. what do you find so hard about these other subjects?”

“They’re just boring.”

“Perhaps we can make them more interesting for you... why do you find maths interesting?” Stacy only shrugged in response. “Is it the numbers? The pureness of it, how you just have to use pure logic to get your answer, instead of the complicated beats and rhythms that society has set up in its hypocritical way? How you simply use a set formula to get your answer, instead of going through the unpredictable tidal waves of attempting to navigate through socializing with your peers?”

“Sir... are you okay?” 

He smiled, “Yes, I am fine, thank you for asking.. but, I would love if you answered my question, Stacy.”

“I would if I had any idea what the fuck you just asked me.”

“Ah... let me rephrase. Socializing with your peers is unpredictable, you never know what may happen. With maths, you know exactly what will happen, because there are set rules and formulas that you use. Doing maths is easier than talking with your friends, because you know what will happen. Is that accurate for you?”

“No, because I really don’t care.”

For once in his life, Mr. Corry looked stumped. He sighed a bit, staring at Stacy with his misty eyes. He... couldn’t seem to read her, to understand her. Perhaps she was just so full of hate that someone as pure as him could not grasp what it was like to be her. “I... see...” he went quiet for a bit, “Would you like some tea...?”

“No.”

“..... Would you like any sort of beverage?” He asked, seemingly exasperated. He seemed desperate to try and help her, and confused as to why he couldn’t understand her like he did everyone else. It.. almost scared him. Which was an emotion he had never felt before, not personally.

“No.”

“Would you like anything at all?”

“No.”

“... I see.” He looked at his watch, “We... still have fifteen minutes left of the session, this would be the time that I ask if you would like to come back again tomorrow to try again?”

“Nah.”

“Okay...” he pursed his lips, “I suppose you would... rather not talk to me for these last fifteen minutes...?” He asked, like it was a foreign concept to him.

“That’d be great.” Stacy said, pulling her phone out and playing Candy Crush like the basic white bitch she is.

Mr. Corry stood up and went over to his desk. He shuffled through his papers, looking like he had no idea what to do with himself. Usually, people were less... like this. Like whatever Stacy was.

Eventually, the dreadful 15 minutes were over and Stacy picked up her bag and left. Mr. Corry watched her go, sighing softly to himself. He gathered up his things and walked out, locking the door behind him. He didn’t waltz out like he usually did. He set a brisk pace, and was home earlier than he usually was. He opened the door to his home quietly, closing it behind him. “I’m home...” he called out to his husband, Gary Poppins, although it was more of a stage-whisper.

“Hello! How was your day?” Gary asked.

“I... met with someone who perplexed me, today...” Mr. Corry stared down at his husband, “And... Emily died, yesterday..”

“Oh my.. do you know how?”

“She died in a bus accident. Her son, Eric, lost his legs in that same crash...”

“That’s terrible...”

Mr. Corry nodded. He adjusted his suspenders slightly, pushing his glasses further up on his nose, “His friends are going to see him now, so... that is lovely...”

Gary nodded.

"... I do not know what to do. I had a student come in after school, to get her grades up, but she... did not want to talk to me.." Mr. Corry admitted.

“Why? You’re really fun to talk to!”

He smiled softly, "Thank you, Gary.. but she does not seem to think so, and.. I am confused... she did not seem like she wanted to be there at all.."

“Aw,” Gary pulled him into a hug. Corry sighed, hugging him back softly. His hugs always felt like you were embracing a cotton candy cloud or something. Always warm and comforting and soft.

***

Anti opened the car door, “Mum, can you drive us to the hospital? We need to visit a friend.”

Anti’s mom looked up at him, “Sure. What happened to your friend, might I ask?” She asked, as Chase, Anti, and Dark slid into their seats.

“He was in a bus crash.”

“Oh... that’s horrible. Send him lots of love from me!” She smiled warmly, driving off in the direction of the hospital.

Anti laughed, “Sure, mum.”

She winked at him in the mirror, grinning broadly. They soon got to the hospital, and the three teenagers rushed inside.

“Hi, we’re here to visit a friend? Eric Derekson.” Chase said to the receptionist.

The receptionist nodded, “he’s in Room 667.”

“Okay, thanks!”

“It’s no problem, sweetie. It’s my job.”

Eric looked up as he heard the door open. 

“Hello there.” Anti said, smiling.

“G-General Kenobi..” Eric grinned broadly, “y-you came to see me!”

“Of course we did!” Chase said, trying to be quieter than usual but failing horribly.

Eric could feel tears welling up in his eyes, and he blinked them back. “T-thank you...”

“Can I hug you?” Anti asked.

Eric nodded, “I’d l-like that..”

They all had a group hug.

Eric eventually pulled away, “I, uh... s-should tell y’all s-something...”

“What is it?”

Eric sighed. Tears were forming in his eyes again, and he simply pointed down to where his legs should have been.

“Oh...”

“Y-Yeah..” the tears started to fall, “I.. I’m s-scared...” Chase hugged him again, and he hugged back tightly. “A-and my mum, she- she-“ he couldn’t get out any more and just broke down into pathetic sobs. Chase just hugged him tighter, he wasn’t sure what he could possibly say. Which was a first for him, he talked a lot. Eric cried for a long while before pulling back, wiping at his tears, “I-I’m sorry...”

“It’s okay.” Anti handed him a box of tissues.

Eric took it, blowing his nose and wiping his tears away more, “O-okay... I just... d-don’t know what to do...”

“Yeah...”

Eric hugged himself, sitting up cross legged (or as cross legged as one can be without the lower half of their legs) on the bed. Nobody really knew what to say, Chase just kept hugging him. Eric leaned into the hug. His face was red and wet from his tears.

“... Do you like cats?” Chase asked.

Eric looked up at Chase, “Y-yeah.. do y-you?”

“Yeah.” He pulled out his phone and showed Eric a photo of a ginger American Shorthair. “This is Pasta! We got him yesterday.”

Eric smiled, “Aw! T-That’s so cute!”

“Why the fuck did you name your cat Pasta??” Anti laughed.

“I... like pasta.”

“Hey, shut up Anti, pasta is great!” Dark punched Anti in the shoulder playfully.

Eric giggled a bit, “I think it’s an a-awesome name..”

“See! They agree!”

Anti put his hands up in mock surrender, “Oh, Eric, do you want us to bring you food tomorrow? Hospital food tastes like shit on a plate.”

Eric blushed slightly, “Y-you’d do that for me?”

“Anything to make this even a tiny bit easier.” Chase said.

Eric smiled just a bit, staring down at the bedsheets. “T-thank you... I’d- id l-like that, if it isn’t t-too much of a burden..”

“Course it isn’t. Any particular food?”

“Uh.. n-no, just w-whatever’s easiest f-for you to bring..” he shook his head a bit.

Anti nodded, “Kay, great.” Eric nodded back. “Oh yeah, by the way, my mum sends her love.”

Eric smiled and giggled a bit, “Thank you... I s-send my love back, haha..”

Anti laughed, “Great, I’ll make sure to pass it on.”

“Thank you. It’s a-appreciated..” Eric grinned.


	11. Religious Classes Taught By The Wrong People

“Don’t drink the Grape Flavor-Aid,” was the first thing that Annus said as his students walked into his class. Unus and Annus taught religious studies together. Unus was a student teacher, studying under Annus. They... didn’t get along. Rather, Unus tried to get along with Annus, and Annus... didn’t. Unus was trying his best, and failing terribly at everything. Mostly? Annus was worried about Unus’s face. There was just so much acne.

Annus turned to Unus. There was a look of disdain in his eyes and he said, “Unus? Tell us why you shouldn’t drink the Grape Flavor-Aid.”

“I don’t- that’s a cult, Annus, that has nothing to do with religion... this is not what they’re meant to be learning...”

“Oh my-“ Annus huffed, “Unus. All cults start out as religions!”

“Yeah but we’re not meant to teach them that side of it because religious people don’t want them to know the bad side of religion so it isn’t part of the curriculum because society is messed up!”

“But what if they join a religion and it’s completely harmless and then it starts getting *less harmless*!?” Annus grabbed Unus by the shoulders and shook him violently, “THEY NEED TO KNOW THE DANGERS OF RELIGION!!!!”

“I AGREE BUT WE AREN’T LEGALLY ALLOWED TO TEACH THAT, ANNUS!!”

“.... WE NEED TO MAKE A CULT CLUB, UNUS!!!”

“Wouldn’t that be a cult in it of itself?”

“No! Because we teach them about cults and yell at them nOT TO JOIN CULTS!!”

“Okay... do I still have to teach this lesson like this?”

“Of course you do!!”

“Okay okay!!!” Unus looked like he was gonna cry, “There is cyanide in the Grape Flavor-Aid.”

“And why is there cyanide in the Grape Flavor-Aid?”

“Because he was scared of the government.” Unus felt like he was back to his own school days, in a test.

“That’s right.” Annus went over to his desk, pulling out a stack of at least twenty books. He started handing them out, “everyone turn to page 394.”

Chase flicked through the pages, very scared of Annus. Who wasn’t? He was scary. Eric stared down at the title of the book. ‘Cults of the Ages.’ He sighed. It was 9 in the morning, he hadn’t slept all night, he just got out of the hospital. He had just been starting to get used to his new prosthetic legs, and he felt like shit. Now he got to learn about more and more death... ‘fun times,’ he thought to himself as he flipped through the pages to 394.

“Read from the start of 394 and continue until you hit 400. We will stop there and discuss.” Annus ordered when he had got back to the front of the class, standing on the left of Unus, who looked depressed as always. Which was a mood. Annus only ever got his way because people were scared to stand up to him. And Unus tried; he really did. That’s admirable, but Annus didn’t admire anything Unus did. He saw no potential, and all he really cared about was his acne. It made Unus sad, but he still tried his best at everything he did. Yet, Annus still hated on him at every chance he got. Nothing Unus ever did was good enough for him. And it probably wasn’t healthy for Unus, but he did it anyway. Maybe that showed he was determined, maybe it showed he was an idiot. He was a determined idiot, really.

Soon, most people had read through the pages as instructed. Eric couldn’t, though. He just kept on thinking. And eventually, silent tears were falling into his desk.

“Eric...? You okay?” Chase asked.

Eric hastily wiped at his tears. He shook his head, “n-no, I’m o-okay, I’m fine..” he whispered, not looking up from his desk.

“Do you want me to get you some tissue?”

Eric hesitated then nodded, “Y-yes, please.”

“Okay.” Chase put his hand up, in any other class he’d just get up and go get them, because most teachers knew he wasn’t gonna do anything he shouldn’t be doing, but with Annus... you just needed to be careful.

Annus stared at him for a long while before pointing at him and snapping his fingers, “uhh. Brooks. What do you want?”

“It’s... it’s Brody.”

“Brody. What do you want?”

“Can I get some tissues?”

“Why?”

“My friend needs tissues.”

“Fine... go quick, kid.”

And he did, that was the quickest Chase had ever got up to get anything in his life. 

Eric gave a trembling smile as he was handed the tissues. “T-Thanks, Chase...” he mumbled as he wiped his eyes. Nodding, Chase rubbed his back gently, there wasn’t much else he could do to comfort Eric in the middle of a lesson.

Eric tried to use a few breathing techniques that Mr. Corry had taught him. They worked surprisingly well. He was still trembling at the end of the lesson, but no more tears flowed down his cheeks.

“Do you wanna just go see Mr. Corry or something?”

Eric shook his head, as the bell rang, “N-no, I’ll- I’ll b-be fine... t-thank you...”

Chase nodded, “Okay, do you want me to carry your stuff, or are you good?”

“I’m g-good.., thank you, t-though..” Eric got to his feet. He held onto his desk for stability, swaying a bit before finding his balance. He took a deep breath. He knew how to walk.

“S-So, um... Mr. A-Annus, hey?” Eric gave a nervous chuckle, “h-he’s kinda s-scary..”

“Yeah, Hes definitely something. I feel bad for Unus.”

“I do t-too... I don’t t-think Annus likes him much..”

“Which is sad, because he’s really nice.”

Eric nodded, “h-he calmed me down w-when I was panicking in t-the hallways once...”

Chase nodded, and the two feel into silence after that, Eric was concentrating more on not falling over. Which Chase was fine with, he didn’t mind silence. Eventually they got to the cafeteria, and they sat down with the others. Eric sat next to Anti, staring at his food and not saying much.

Anti, who wasn’t very interested in Chase and Stacy’s conversation turned to Eric. “You gonna eat anything?”

Eric shrugged, “d-dunno... ‘m not r-really hungry right n-now...”

“That’s okay, just remember to eat something later. Yeah?”

He nodded silently, shifting in his chair. Dark watched him and sighed, returning to eating his sandwich.

“I’m moving schools.” Stacy said, not sounding the least bit upset. 

That made Anti a lot more interested in what she was saying. Even Eric looked up at that. A spark lit up in Dark’s eyes, “Really? Why?”

“Because people are assholes and I’m done with their shit.”

Anti snorted at that, Chase just looked depressed about everything.

“You’re one to talk.”

“That was out of order. And unnecessary.”

“As is your face, hun.”

“Dark, really?” Chase said, honestly just tired at this point. Dark and Anti were his best friends, but Jesus Christ, whenever they had a conversation with Stacy it always turned into an argument.

“Yeah, really.”

“Could you both not? For like, a day? Please.” 

“Sorry, am I boring you?” Stacy cut in.

“No...”

Dark sighed, crossing his arms, “fine. I’ll be quiet if she’s quiet.”

“Thank you.”

Dark nodded to him, leaning on Anti and resting his head on his shoulder, Anti hugged him with a smile. Dark made a sound like a cat purring, and they were adorable. So fucking adorable. Just watching them made Eric smile a bit. It made Chase smile too. Stacy... not so much. But she was a sour bitch on a GOOD day, so it wasn’t a surprise. Though, Chase was the only person sad to see her go. And if Dark and Anti were being honest? It’d probably end up better for Chase in the long run. Stacy wasn’t healthy for him. It’s also give Eric a chance with Chase, all he had to do was work up the courage to ask him out.


	12. Dark is kinda scary

Anti, Chase, Eric and Dark were at Anti’s house after school. They were playing uno and Dark was getting competitive.

“I swear to god, if you give me another plus four I’m gonna KILL YOU!” Dark yelled at Anti.

“... I’ll do this then.” Anti said, and he placed down a blue plus two. 

Dark growled at him and picked up two. He placed down a blue seven, glaring intensely at Anti. Chase put down a yellow seven. Eric took a quick glance at his cards before placing down a plus four to Anti. Surprisingly, Eric was ruthless when it came to Uno.

“Ah fuck, I can’t believe you’ve done this!”

Eric smiled, “s-Sorry, Anti.”

“What colour?” Anti asked.

“Red.”

He nodded, placing down a red 0. Dark pulled out a red plus two to Chase, his eyes burning holes into the side of Anti’s head.

“Dark, please. It’s just a game. Don’t look at me like that.” 

“IT IS NOT JUST A GAME!! THERE IS NO FAMILY IN UNO, ANTI!!” Dark yelled at his boyfriend.

Eric was staring at Dark with wide eyes, honestly terrified. Chase picked up two.

“Calm down!”

“WHY SHOULD I?!”

“Because you’re scary!”

“GOOD!”

“How is- why did we decide to play uno?”

“You knew this would happen, Anti .” Chase laughed.

“Of course it would happen!!! THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS MERCY IN UNO!!! EVEN ERIC’S FUCKING RUTHLESS!!” Dark yelled.

It was hard for Anti not to laugh, his boyfriend took Uno way too seriously. “Eric isn’t yelling at everyone!”

“OF COURSE HE’S NOT! I DON’T THINK HE’S EVER RAISED HIS VOICE IN HIS ENTIRE LIFE!”

“Calm yourself, or we won’t finish this game!”

“... ASSHOLE! FINE.” Dark huffed, crossing his arms, “.. Fine.”

“Thank you.”

“Mhm...”

***

Dark sighed, cracking his neck, “Well that was fun.”

Chase’s phone dinged, and he checked the notification. It was Stacy. “.... Fuck.”

Dark leaned over, “What’s up?”

“I was meant to be hanging out with Stacy today and forgot like a dumbass. Mind if I go?”

“No, go right ahead,” Dark shrugged, though there was a hint of wariness in his eyes, “Stay safe.”

“I second that.” Anti said.

“Kay, thanks. And I will.”

Dark gave him a curt nod before leaning on Anti’s shoulder like he was an arm rest. He did that a lot, all jokingly of course. 

Anti was chill with it. “Okay, we’re not playing this-“ he gestured to their finished game of uno “-Ever again.”

Dark frowned, “why not?”

Anti just stared at him, “Seriously?”

He slumped a bit, “..... Fine..”


	13. But Stacy is a Bitch

Chase knocked on the door of Stacy’s house around half an hour after he left Anti’s. She opened the door, looking unimpressed.

“Took you long enough.”

“I can’t teleport...”

“You were supposed to be hours ago!”

“I forgot!”

“Right.”

“I did!”

“Course you did. Get in.”

Chase did, already dreading everything. Stacy put her hands on her hips, and it made Chase feel really small for some reason. 

“So. What movie do you want to watch?”

“You can pick.” Chase knew better than to pick a movie, Stacy always got annoyed because she didn’t like his choices. Which was fair enough, but she didn’t have to be as aggressive as she was. Not that he ever told her that. 

“Great,” she went over to the tv and wet into Netflix, scrolling through movies. She eventually picked The Fog and put it on, not bothering to cuddle up to Chase or anything of the sort. Chase, on the other hand, did try and hug her. 

She sighed loudly, “don’t.”

“Sorry...”

“Mmmhm..” she rolled her eyes, crossing her legs on the couch. 

Chase found the movie very boring. Stacy... honestly couldn’t care less, to be honest. Which wasn’t surprising. And Chase didn’t mind, he was just very bored. And when he got bored he got fidgety. And that... probably annoyed Stacy. Actually, it definitely annoyed Stacy. She kept on shooting him glares from her side of the couch. And then Chase just felt bad. Which just made Stacy more annoyed. God, he was so annoying. 

If anything, him feeling bad might have just made his fidgeting worse. Which made Stacy more annoyed, which made Chase feel worse... it was a huge cycle of bad. 

... Eventually he decided to just get up and grab something to eat. Then he wouldn’t be fidgeting, and food was less boring than this movie. Stacy payed him no mind, just glad he was out of the room for now.


	14. Anti’s Mum Is The Best

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The description of anti’s room was written by a friend and he is amazing. 
> 
> Also, sorry I haven’t updated in a million years :( I have many prewritten chapters, so more will come!

Dark checked the clock; 12am. He groaned to himself. His parents were arguing. Again. He had been trying to get some homework done, but was honestly failing miserably. He picked up his phone, texting Anti.

My emo idiot: hey, Anti.

My Glitch Bitch: yeah?

My emo idiot: oh, you’re still awake. These assholes are fighting again.

My Glitch Bitch: Do you want us to come and kidnap you?

My emo idiot: you’d do that?

My Glitch Bitch: if I wasn’t going to, I wouldn’t ask.

My emo idiot: I’d very much like that, Anti.

My Glitch Bitch: mum says you can just stay overnight 

My emo idiot: Anti, your mother is my favourite person 

My Glitch Bitch: I thought I was your favourite person! 

My emo idiot: yeah, you’re okay too 

My Glitch Bitch: mum says you’re pretty cool yourself. She also says pack a bag, cuz we’ll be there in half an hour. 

My emo idiot: on it.

***

Dark walked out, dragging his school bag behind him. He waved, “Hey.”

Anti’s mum, Lilith, gave Dark a sympathetic smile as he got in the car. 

Dark gave her something of a smile back, and sighed. “You are amazing.”

“I know, you tell me that all the time.”

“Well it’s true.”

“Thank you.”

Another half an hour later, and they were at Anti’s. Dark got out the car, looking up at the familiar house. 

“You can sleep in Anti’s room.”

Dark smiled, “thank you.” He went up to Anti’s room with him, putting his bag down in one corner of the room.

Anti gave Dark a hug, “Just thought you could use this.”

Dark hugged back, “I can. Thank you, Anti.”

“No problem.”

Dark looked around at the dimly lit room. Anti’s room was quite small, and quite the mess. Blankets in all different shades of green were piled on top of his bed, and homework littered the room. The walls were a very soft and pale green, and an Irish flag hung along one wall, above his bed. A rainbow flag hung on the wall opposite. It smelled of the most invigorating chocolate, and Dark took a deep breath, smiling. He had always liked chocolate. Everything in his room was green; his bed, his walls.. even his ceiling. Except for the floor, which was a dark brown wood. The ceiling was a darker green, and when the sun streamed through his green-tinted window, it felt like you were in a forest. Even the lightbulb in his lamp was green. And Dark loved it. He loved everything about Anti, and he loved everything about his room, too. Except for the mess... he’d definitely be cleaning up Anti’s room in the morning.

Anti gave Dark a tiny kiss on the cheek, still hugging him tightly.

Dark blushed and smiled, leaning into his hug, “I love you. But I’m cleaning up this room for you in the morning.”

“Of course you are,” Anti laughed, “You clean it every time you come round.”

“It needs to be cleaned! It’s always a mess!” He huffed, “I don’t understand how you manage to mess it up over and over!”

“I’m just a messy bitch!”

“How?!”

“I dunno! It just happens!!”

“You’re weird.”

“And you love me for it.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“I’m glad, I’d be a sad potato if you didn’t.”

Dark chuckled, kissing his nose gently, “I’m sure.”

Anti giggled, hugging Dark again and leaning his head on his shoulder. “I love you!!”

Dark hugged him back, rubbing his back gently, “I love you too.” Anti snuggled closer, giving him another kiss. Dark smiled, “D’you want to go to sleep? Or should we just sit on your bed looking at memes for a while?”

“Memes are great.”

“So are you.” Dark said, flopping onto the bed with Anti.

“Awe!”

“I love you,” he smiled, grabbing a blanket and throwing it over Anti’s shoulders.

Smiling, Anti pulled through blanket tighter around himself, “I love you too.” He pulled out his phone, looking for memes. “It’s meme time, it’s meme time...”

Dark laughed, getting a blanket of his own and snuggling into it. He grabbed his phone, doing the same as Anti, “Yes, meme time indeed.”

Anti smiled more, “Gather all your friends, it’s meme time, the only cure for sadness!”

Dark wrapped an arm around Anti’s shoulders, grinning, “it’s meme time! It’s meme time! Gather all your friends, it’s meme time!”

Anti laughed. Him, Dark and Chase had created the song in like, fourth grade.

“L is for lovers who love one another.”

“A is for ass, of which I like to eat,” Dark giggled, putting a hand over his mouth.

Anti found it adorable, that part always made Dark giggle, and it was Anti’s favourite thing ever. “U is for u’re the only one for me!”

“G is for the only gamer I see!” Dark poked Anti in the chest.

Anti laughed, “Gamer I see, gamer I see!”

“H is for happy; I always feel it!” Dark started snapping, and Anti joined in, “When you put it together, what do you get?”

“What do you get?”

“Put it together, what do you get?”

Anti tackle hugged his boyfriend, “LAUGH!”

Dark yelped in fear, collapsing back onto the bed and laughing loudly, “Ahhh!”

“I’m so sorry- are you okay?” 

Dark pulled him close, into a tight hug, “Yes.” Anti hugged him back, just as tight. “I love you..” he murmured, starting to play with his boyfriend’s hair.

“I love you too.” Anti sighed contentedly, he leaned into the touches, scrolling through a bunch of memes and showing Dark the ones that made him laugh.

Dark chuckled at most of them, content in simply running his fingers through Anti’s hair and fluffing it up. He loved it when Dark did that. Usually, Anti hated anyone touching his hair, but Dark was the one exception. 

“I love you..” Dark whispered again, kissing the top of his head and continuing to make his hair all poofy and fluffy.

Anti smiled softly and cuddled up to Dark, “I love you too.”

Dark pulled him closer to him, wrapping his arms around him, “I wouldn’t know what to do if you didn’t.”

“It’s a good thing you won’t have to find out, then.”

“I’m glad.”

Anti smiled, stifling a yawn with his hand. 

Dark smiled, “Go to sleep, luv. You need the rest.”

“Kay.” Anti grabbed another blanket and snuggled even closer to Dark, “I love you.”

Dark pulled him under the covers, reaching over and grabbing their phones. He put them on a pile of clothes, clapping his hands. The lights went out. He cuddled under the covers with his boyfriend, just happy to be there with him, “I love you too.”


	15. Unus, Annus... And An Aloe Vera?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter out sooner, as promised!

Anti’s alarm went off in the morning, but it didn’t wake him up. That’s why he had 5 alarms in a row every half an hour. Anti would sleep until 11 am if he didn’t have multiple alarms. Dark woke up. He was a very heavy sleeper, usually, but alarms still woke him up. He rolled over, staring at Anti, “Hey, luv,” he murmured, running his fingers through his hair, “Wake up..”

No response. Anti was still very much asleep.

Dark kissed his forehead, brushing some hair out of his face. He hummed quietly to himself, smiling, “Anti, my little potato famine, it’s time to wake up.”

“Mmm... do I have to..?”

“You do. We have school today,” he smiled.

“Aw, that sucks.” Anti said, getting up and stretching. 

He grinned, getting up with him, “I know. But we do have Unus and Annus’s class today, so perhaps things will get interesting. Maybe they’ll beat up a plant or some shit, who knows.”

“Unus’ll cry cuz he doesn’t want to hurt it’s feelings.”

"And Annus will pick on him for being a wimp," Dark rolled his eyes.

Anti sighed, “Honestly? I don’t think that should even be legal. Poor guy looks like he wants to burst into tears whenever Annus looks in his direction.”

"Almost like Annus is the Stacy to Unus's Eric.." Dark cracked his neck, wincing.

Anti sighed again, “I hate that bitch more every single fucking day. One day, she’s gonna get murdered, and nobody’ll care.”

"And it'll be us who committed the murder," Dark muttered, "but people will just celebrate that she's gone, and if they found out it was us, we'd have a lot more respect from em."

“Whatever happens, I’m just glad Chase won’t be around her as often anymore.”

"I am too," Dark stifled a yawn, getting up out of bed.

***

“You’re up early.” Lilith said as Anti came down the stairs. 

"I got him up," Dark smiled, coming down with him.

“Ah. That makes a lot of sense.”

“If I wasn’t here, he’d still be asleep.”

“Being a morning person is overrated.”

“How dare you!” Dark said, giving her a look of fake offence.

“I agree!”

Dark gave him a punch in the arm, "How dare you!”

Lilith smiled, “You two are the cutest ever.”

“No, it’s just him.” Dark grinned, wrapping an arm around Anti’s shoulders. 

“I think you’ll find that you’re cuter.” Anti said, kissing his cheek. Lilith just grinned more, she loved these two.

Dark blushed, chuckling, "I think you'll find that you're wrong."

“You too are adorable, and I hate to interrupt, but what would you like for breakfast?”

Dark hummed, "I'm alright with anything, really.. Anti? What do you want?"

“Cheerios.”

“Cheerios it is, then.”

Anti grabbed the cereal box out the cupboard, making two (very large) bowls of Cheerios. 

Dark chuckled to himself, honestly just watching his boyfriend do his thing. "Thank you, Anti."

Anti smiled, looking very pleased with himself.

Dark ruffled his hair, grinning and sitting down at the table to eat his cereal.

***

Lilith dropped the two off at school, “Have a good day!”

“You too!” Dark waved, taking Anti’s hand and going into the building with him. 

Chase was already at his locker, which was just across from Dark and Anti’s. Dark was seeming to get a bit more nervous than usual, but kept it hidden for the most part. He kept on fidgeting with a ring on his finger. "Hey, Chase!"

Chase smiled at him, “Hey Dark!”

Anti noticed Dark getting more nervous. He wasn’t gonna ask about it now, it’d probably just make things worse.

"How do you think life'll be today?" Dark asked cryptically.

“I dunno. Boring?”

"I think it may be eventful," Mr. Corry chimed in as he walked by, a large stack of paperwork in his arms.

Dark nodded curtly, "I believe so too."

“What lessons have you got today?” Chase asked, closing his locker.

"Religious studies, science, and maths."

“I guess science won’t be bad, but I haven’t got religious studies today.” 

Dark nodded. Then the bell rang. "See you at lunch," he grabbed Anti by his hand, walking extremely quickly to religious studies.

“Dark, are you okay?”

Dark simply stayed silent. And sat down.

“Dark?” Anti asked again. 

Dark turned to him, dead serious. He whispered, "I think I might be Non-Binary."

“Oh! That’s fine, obviously. What pronouns do you want me to use?”

Dark sighed in relief, “They/Them, please.” 

“Okay, cool. Are you gonna tell Chase and Eric?

"I am," Dark nodded. And they couldn't help the wide grin that came across their face as they pulled their boyfriend into a tight hug.

Anti kissed their cheek, “I love you.”

Dark looked like they might cry. "I love you too. So, so much."

Anti gave them another kiss, and then waited for the lesson to start. Dark wiped away their tears, giving a soft sigh. They reached over and held his hand gently, grinning like a madperson. Anti gave their hand a little squeeze, and Dark only grinned more at that. Soon, the class had started, but Dark didn't let go of Anti's hand. Why would they?

Unus put an Aloe Vera on the front desk with a “Annus, do you wanna cut it?”

"Weughhh.. mm," Annus scrunched up his face, staring down at the plant, "I don't wanna kill it.." he seemed.. actually kinda whiny. Maybe he'd been spending time with Eric, and he rubbed off on him.

“Okay, you don’t have to cut it!”

"Mhhh, I don't wanna kill it..' he frowned, crossing his arms.

“It won’t feel it.”

"I- i- it doesn't matter if it feels it, it's getting damaged!' He whined, "And I- I- ihh feel it.."

“What if we just cut it a little bit? Just a- just a little bit, just like-“ Unus made a cutting motion with the knife, “-Sitzle.”

Annus whimpered, huffing a bit, "I can't do it."

“Do you want me to do it?”

He sighed heavily, looking away, "Yeah, go for it."

The entire class was concerned. They had never seen Annus be like this before, it was weird.

“Kay, I’m just gonna make a little....” Unus cut the plant. “Little cut. That was a pretty big cut, but it’s okay.”

Annus looked at the plant, "it's a big cut, oh my god, it's gonna fall off, ohh why'd you cut it like that!?" he put his head in his hands.

“So what if it falls off? It’ll grow back. That’s what plants do, they grooooowwww.”

"It didn't even do anything, it's so tough.." he groaned.

“Do you want me to cut off the whole thing?”

"NooOOOO-" Annus half-yelled.

“Well what now? ... Why did we do this again?”

".. Let it go."

“I- what?”

"Let- let-! Let. It. Go."

“Let’s what go?”

"Let it go," he whispered, taking the knife from Unus.

“But... the rest of the lesson?”

“No.”

“Oh?”

“No.”

“Uhh...” Unus turned back to the rest of the class, “Talk amongst yourselves, then, I guess.”

Annus took a deep breath. The class erupted into a jumbled mess of voices talking over each other.

Anti turned to Dark, “What the fuck just happened?”

They shrugged, "I think Annus is a plant dad."

“Wow. I wasn’t expecting that.”

“Maybe Eric, Chase, Mr. Corry and Annus should get together and talk about plants sometimes.

“Definitely. What on Earth was that for, though?”

"I have no idea," Dark sighed, shaking their head.

Anti and Dark walked over to their usual table. Chase was sat there already, chatting with Eric. Dark sat down at the table, next to Anti. 

Eric looked up at the two, smiling, "H-hey!"

“Hey,” Anti smiled. 

Chase waved, “Hello!”

"So," Dark cleared their throat, "I have something to tell you two, and I hope you take it well." They took a deep breath, "I'm non-binary."

Chase smiled, “That’s cool, d- is it still okay if I call you dude, or nah?”

They grinned, "Go for it" Dark winked, "But they/them please. You can still call me Dark, too."

Eric smiled, "A-alright, Dark. Thanks f-for letting us know."

Someone came up behind them, "Every time someone comes out, the world gets a little bit brighter," Mr. Corry patted Dark's back gently, "You’re doing lovely."

Anti smiled, hugging Dark. He was so proud of his partner, honestly. Just all the time. Dark was so amazing.

Dark wiped away tears quickly, hugging Anti back, "Thank you, Mr. Corry.."

Mr. Corry nodded, walking off again, "It is my pleasure, Mx. Umbra."

“That man is my role model.” Chase laughed.

"He is the definition of a pure heart," Dark smiled, honestly just letting the tears start to flow because dnshsfhjjsfg gender euphoria.

“He is.” Anti agreed, wiping some of Dark’s tears with his sleeve, and kissing them. 

They sniffled, hugging Anti tightly and burying their face into his shoulder, "This has been the best day of my life."

“Awww!” Anti hugged them tighter, running his fingers through their hair and kissing their head.

Dark sighed, relaxing into his embrace, "I love you more than life itself.."

“Oh shush. I know I’m great and all, but I’m not that special.”

"No, you are," Dark smiled.

“Sure, sure.”

Dark rolled their eyes, starting to eat their food. 

After a while, Eric spoke up, looking nervous, "You know when like- you wanna do those like- 'what I would wear if I was straight check!' videos, but, like, not have any straight clothes? Like- what do I wear!? This Hawaiian shirt? This Hawaiian shirt?" He gestured to the shirt he had on now, which was, indeed, a Hawaiian shirt, "This Hawaiian shirt-?"

“Is that you coming out?”

"Y-Yeah," Eric stared down at the table, "I'm, uh, bi.."

“Awesome! I’m bi too.” Chase said, smiling.

Eric absolutely beamed at him, "no one in t-this friend group is straight, it seems."

“I highly doubt anyone in this school is straight.” Anti laughed.

"You're not wrong," a smooth and commanding voice behind Chase said, "Can I sit with you?"

“Uhh.. sure?”

A kid who was actually pretty short for his age, but extremely handsome, sat down next to Chase. "I'm Mark," he grinned.

“Hi.” Anti said, he was still stroking Dark’s hair.

Mark blinked a bit, "...Hi. Names and pronouns, everybody?" He suggested, looking around the table.

“Anti. He/him.”

The rest all chimed off with their responses, and Mark nodded, "Great. I heard about you," he waggled his fingers at Eric, "Celine told me what happened with Stacy."

“I don’t think we need a reminder.” Anti said defensively, knowing that neither Chase or Eric would want to talk about that. 

He hummed, "I suppose not," he smiled, "So. Dark, long time no see."

Dark sighed, "Mhm. What a pleasure to see you again," he growled quietly.

“You two know each other?”

"We do," Mark smiled, "We used to be friends."

“...Interesting.”

"Indeed.." Dark shook their head, leaning closer to Anti and taking a bite of their sandwich. He kissed their head, and Dark gave him a small smile, glaring at Mark.

“Oh, actually! Eric, do you have a phone? We need your number, since it’s summer break in a few weeks.”

Eric nodded, “Y-yeah,” he pulled out his phone, giving the group his number.

***

Lilith greeted Dark and Anti as they got to the car. “Hey, Ms. Mellifluus" Dark greeted, "I have something to tell you.."

“Haven’t heard you say that in a few years. What is it, honey?”

Dark smiled, "I'm non-binary."

She nodded, “Okay. What pronouns should I use?”

"They/them, would be wonderful."

“Of course, whatever makes you comfortable.”

Dark grinned, "You are amazing."

“I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a note on the last names, which LokiOfEarth gave me- 
> 
> Umbra (Dark's last name); A Latin word, "Umbra" refers to shadows, ghosts, and darkness, especially the shadows of trees.
> 
> Mellifluus (Lilith's last name, which is also Anti's, since he changed his last name to his mother's instead of his dad's); Literally translated, "mellifluus" means "flowing with honey." It's related to the English word "mellifluous," which means a sound that is beautiful and sweet to hear.
> 
> I really like them


End file.
